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Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
34,288
49,530
In the middle of several books.
I think the following is far more likely...

1) AT&T has higher overhead (at this point in time than the other carriers) due to other partnerships, building, etc.
2) While there may be a retention policy in place for customer service reps to view, said policy is rather vague and left (ultimately) to the discretion of local management, which has to weigh said policy against other customer / employee quotas. As such, there is very little room for negotiation between the customer service reps and the subscriber.
3) Acquiescing to every customer call for a lower rate negatively affects the dollar line as well as the customer perception line. Customers (and prospective customers) will come to view the company as not truly believing in its product, policy, or its people. And if the image is not corrected (from retention mismanagement etc.) the end result will be that said company is viewed as one that is constantly trying to gouge and scam subscribers at every opportunity.
4) Even though AT&T does not want to lose subscribers, it knows that preventing such is impossible. At the same time, it must try and mitigate the damage in as consistent manner as possible, while paying close attention to the aforementioned.
 
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bopajuice

Suspended
Mar 22, 2016
1,571
4,348
Dark side of the moon
I called AT&T yesterday. Told the CS agent I was interested in moving my account to another carrier and would like to speak to the retention department. I got put on hold for 12 minutes. Then all of a sudden all cell service dropped. I had only been on hold. And had never spoken to anyone about the situation at all.

I spend the next hour trying to log into my Att account only to have it inaccessible.

Finally went to an ATT store. And found out they cancelled my account. No confirmation. No asking the situation. No even telling me that it would be done. Just sitting on hold for 10 minutes then Boom! No account. CS agent: katelyn gaymon employee id:kg4964
It took An hour to Get my account back up. Providing my drivers lic. birth date etc.

I then called back in to Customer retention. Asked to See If there was anything they could do To retain meand match verizon. They said no. Basically. Anything They could do Would make My Plan Cost More and still not give me tethering.

They actually recommended I look at a more suitable carrier for My needs.

Clearly. Att have 0 intention of retaining existing grandfathered unlimited customers. Or matching other plans. So now I have to Seriously think About my options.

I was so shocked at the the customer service. What was provided. I have never experienced anything like that before. Who cancels a phone line without saying a single word.

Anyway. Probably moving to Verizon. And I slcertainly hope that CS agent ends up as a crossing guard.

After all that why in the world did you not switch? Your account was canceled, you were free to move on, and you chose to reinstate your plan just to negotiate a better rate with a carrier that canceled you? And then they said sorry can't help you? Yet still you are only concidering switching? Man you are the most loyal customer I have ever heard of... crazy but loyal.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
After all that why in the world did you not switch? Your account was canceled, you were free to move on, and you chose to reinstate your plan just to negotiate a better rate with a carrier that canceled you? And then they said sorry can't help you? Yet still you are only concidering switching? Man you are the most loyal customer I have ever heard of... crazy but loyal.

You mean, Man you are the most __________ customer I have ever heard:D
 
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Newtons Apple

Suspended
Mar 12, 2014
22,757
15,253
Jacksonville, Florida
I think the following is far more likely...

1) AT&T has higher overhead (at this point in time than the other carriers) due to other partnerships, building, etc.
2) While there may be a retention policy in place for customer service reps to view, said policy is rather vague and left (ultimately) to the discretion of local management, which has to weigh said policy against other customer / employee quotas. As such, there is very little room for negotiation between the customer service reps and the subscriber.
3) Acquiescing to every customer call for a lower rate negatively affects the dollar line as well as the customer perception line. Customers (and prospective customers) will come to view the company as not truly believing in its product, policy, or its people. And if the image is not corrected (from retention mismanagement etc.) the end result will be that said company is viewed as one the is constantly trying to gouge and scam subscribers at every opportunity.
4) Even though AT&T does not want to lose subscribers, it knows that preventing such is impossible. At the same time, it must try and mitigate the damage in as consistent manner as possible, while paying close attention to the aforementioned.

Agreed and that is why I do not think that AT&T is clueless! They have all the numbers and facts.
 

blueflame

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2003
852
147
Studio City
First off, you are right. I am loyal. and let me say, in all my years with AT&T in general, the service and customer service has only increased. I do not have a problem paying a premium for things that I like and I feel preform superior to others. thats why i pay the apple tax. i think its worth it. but, at&t charging 20% more than its closer competitor and NOT offering tethering is pretty ridiculous.

i reinstated my phone because it was 8pm at night, and I was not prepared to switch carriers at that moment, however, with these actions and this I will be switching. I am still using my 6+. i would like to wait for iphone 8, just to take advantage of the new carrier deals, etc...

so its loyalty, frugality, and just waiting for my opportune moment.

At&t has lost my trust and respect. they sinly are not treating their customers right.

maybe the death star has a weak point, and the rebels are coming.

After all that why in the world did you not switch? Your account was canceled, you were free to move on, and you chose to reinstate your plan just to negotiate a better rate with a carrier that canceled you? And then they said sorry can't help you? Yet still you are only concidering switching? Man you are the most loyal customer I have ever heard of... crazy but loyal.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
First off, you are right. I am loyal. and let me say, in all my years with AT&T in general, the service and customer service has only increased. I do not have a problem paying a premium for things that I like and I feel preform superior to others. thats why i pay the apple tax. i think its worth it. but, at&t charging 20% more than its closer competitor and NOT offering tethering is pretty ridiculous.

i reinstated my phone because it was 8pm at night, and I was not prepared to switch carriers at that moment, however, with these actions and this I will be switching. I am still using my 6+. i would like to wait for iphone 8, just to take advantage of the new carrier deals, etc...

so its loyalty, frugality, and just waiting for my opportune moment.

At&t has lost my trust and respect. they sinly are not treating their customers right.

maybe the death star has a weak point, and the rebels are coming.

You're going to wait 7-8 months to get the next iphone and continue to stay with AT&T?
And you're going to hope the same great deals from other carriers are going to be around for that long?
Good luck, lol :D
 

blueflame

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2003
852
147
Studio City
If i were to say to you drop $700 today on a new phone you don't really want to save $100 would you?

I do not plan to switch to Tmobile, i plan on going Verizon. i do not believe my ATT phone works on verizon.

is the situation ideal? absolutely not. but at least there are options.

i 100% expect deals to be around when the new phone is revealed. new iPhone is like carrier Christmas. they throw in everything and the kitchens sick every year. in fact, the deals will most likely be better i expect. also, i do expect ATT to cave.

You're going to wait 7-8 months to get the next iphone and continue to stay with AT&T?
And you're going to hope the same great deals from other carriers are going to be around for that long?
Good luck, lol :D
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
If i were to say to you drop $700 today on a new phone you don't really want to save $100 would you?

I do not plan to switch to Tmobile, i plan on going Verizon. i do not believe my ATT phone works on verizon.

is the situation ideal? absolutely not. but at least there are options.

i 100% expect deals to be around when the new phone is revealed. new iPhone is like carrier Christmas. they throw in everything and the kitchens sick every year. in fact, the deals will most likely be better i expect. also, i do expect ATT to cave.

Hey, its your choice.
Wireless carrier deals dont come out with good options often so when there's a great deal you gotta grab it and grandfather yourself in.
They are limited time only so what specials there are today will not be around 7-8 months later.
The deal I got with my current carrier only lasted a little while and its still better than everything they have right now so 2 years later it hasn't been a matching or better option.
So you're taking a chance with hopes that such options will be around. The good thing is if you have a good plan you can always switch to a newer one if you like it better. But you can never go back to what they offered 6 months ago if that pricing is not available any more.
Just food for thought;)
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
34,288
49,530
In the middle of several books.
Hey, its your choice.
Wireless carrier deals dont come out with good options often so when there's a great deal you gotta grab it and grandfather yourself in.
They are limited time only so what specials there are today will not be around 7-8 months later.
The deal I got with my current carrier only lasted a little while and its still better than everything they have right now so 2 years later it hasn't been a matching or better option.
So you're taking a chance with hopes that such options will be around. The good thing is if you have a good plan you can always switch to a newer one if you like it better. But you can never go back to what they offered 6 months ago if that pricing is not available any more.
Just food for thought;)
Your post is why I jumped on the new Verizon Unlimited Plan. I was paying the same price for 12GB (+2GB for life) with tethering lumped into the monthly data total. Good time to (as you said) "grandfather in."

Edited to correct inaccuracies.
 
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C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
Your post is why I jumped on the new Verizon Unlimited Plan. I was paying the same price for 12GB (+2GB for life) with no tethering. Good time to (as you said) "grandfather in."
The Verizon plan didn't (and I guess doesn't, aside from unlimited) actually include tethering?
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Your post is why I jumped on the new Verizon Unlimited Plan. I was paying the same price for 12GB (+2GB for life) with tethering lumped into the monthly data total. Good time to (as you said) "grandfather in."

Edited to correct inaccuracies.

Pretty much.
I still Cant believe the 2 big carriers are bringing back unlimited data and Verizon is also throwing Tethering in there. That's nuts :)
Both Verizon and AT&T ended their unlimited data plans back in June 2010 and took them about 7 years to bring them back. Thanks to pressure from Tmobile.
You can bet that those plans offered right now will not be around for too long ;)


The only 2 data options back then:)
$25 for 2 gigabytes of data, which is ten times more downloads than the 200 megabytes $15 plan.
Back in 2010 AT&T said 98 percent of its customers use less than 2 gigabytes of data per month.
That's not valid 7 years later but those that kept their unlimited iphone data plans where happy not having to worry about overages.
 
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C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
Good thing you questioned me on that, CDM. After thinking on it a bit more just now, tethering was including albeit it was lumped into the monthly phone data total. The new plan gives me more for the same price I was paying.
I was a little surprised by what you mentioned about tethering initially. At the same time when I looked over the Verizon plan information on Verizon's web site and didn't really call out tethering/hotspot either when it came to the non-unlimited options, so that made me wonder a bit given that I kind of assumed it was part of it all. Looking deeper into FAQs it does seem that it is in fact part of it.
 

M. Gustave

macrumors 68000
Jun 6, 2015
1,856
1,712
Grand Budapest Hotel
I called last night to cancel one of our four lines, and the AT&T rep offered me a free Samdung Android tablet, if I keep the line running and agree to a 2-yr contract. No thanks. If it was an iPad, I might have considered it.
 

Freakonomics101

macrumors 68030
Nov 6, 2014
2,739
1,798
I think you are correct in that statement. AT&T has had a difficult time recovering from the massive increase in subscribers when AT&T was iPhone exclusive. They may actually want people to leave so they can manage the network better. Once they get down below the number they want, retention will begin bargaining again.

Loss in subscribers = lower income = no $ for AT&T. AT&T loves money so I have to disagree.
 

OriginalAppleGuy

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2016
930
1,035
Virginia
You all can disagree with me all you want. Not saying it would be smart on AT&Ts part to try to piss people off and let them leave. But to ignore it's a possibility is just ignorant. They ran in to serious issues with their networks when the iPhone hit the market and they didn't have enough infrastructure to handle the massive increase in data.

How would you explain the customer "retention" experiences people have posted in this thread? If the areas they live in are oversaturated with subscribers, they probably don't care about losing people. It can cost less to lose a few people than to upgrade the network further.
 

0928001

Suspended
Sep 15, 2012
453
385
You all can disagree with me all you want. Not saying it would be smart on AT&Ts part to try to piss people off and let them leave. But to ignore it's a possibility is just ignorant. They ran in to serious issues with their networks when the iPhone hit the market and they didn't have enough infrastructure to handle the massive increase in data.

How would you explain the customer "retention" experiences people have posted in this thread? If the areas they live in are oversaturated with subscribers, they probably don't care about losing people. It can cost less to lose a few people than to upgrade the network further.

To think any business is completely willing to make less money is ignorant. They are just sticking to their guns as far as pricing by charging what they think is a fair price for their service.

I'm sure they have statistics on people who call retention and threaten to leave (to get a better deal) vs people who actually leave, and I'm guessing it sways more in the favor of the former.
 

HEK

macrumors 68040
Sep 24, 2013
3,547
6,080
US Eastern time zone
I called AT&T yesterday. Told the CS agent I was interested in moving my account to another carrier and would like to speak to the retention department. I got put on hold for 12 minutes. Then all of a sudden all cell service dropped. I had only been on hold. And had never spoken to anyone about the situation at all.

I spend the next hour trying to log into my Att account only to have it inaccessible.

Finally went to an ATT store. And found out they cancelled my account. No confirmation. No asking the situation. No even telling me that it would be done. Just sitting on hold for 10 minutes then Boom! No account. CS agent: katelyn gaymon employee id:kg4964
It took An hour to Get my account back up. Providing my drivers lic. birth date etc.

I then called back in to Customer retention. Asked to See If there was anything they could do To retain meand match verizon. They said no. Basically. Anything They could do Would make My Plan Cost More and still not give me tethering.

They actually recommended I look at a more suitable carrier for My needs.

Clearly. Att have 0 intention of retaining existing grandfathered unlimited customers. Or matching other plans. So now I have to Seriously think About my options.

I was so shocked at the the customer service. What was provided. I have never experienced anything like that before. Who cancels a phone line without saying a single word.

Anyway. Probably moving to Verizon. And I slcertainly hope that CS agent ends up as a crossing guard.

Interesting, they called your bluff and raised you. I can easily see the rep getting pissed about all the "i'm gonna drop you" calls. Wait till Trump's f*** net neutrality rules set in. You gonna see some real customer disatisfaction across the various carriers.
 
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Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Interesting, they called your bluff and raised you. I can easily see the rep getting pissed about all the "i'm gonna drop you" calls. Wait till Trumps f*** net neutrality rules set in. You gonna see some real customer disatisfaction across the various carriers.

I can see them getting frustrated with multiple people calling and threatening to leave.
As long as they stay professional and not pull what they did to the other poster. They just put him on hold and canceled all his lines without warning :D
That's was pretty crazy.
 
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